The present disclosure relates in general to solar photovoltaic (PV) modeling tools, and in particular to PV modeling tools for estimating PV energy generation for an installation site.
In recent years, climate change concerns, federal/state initiatives, and other factors have driven a rapid rise in the installation of renewable energy generation (EG) systems (i.e., systems that generate energy using renewable resources such as solar, wind, hydropower, etc.) at residential and non-residential sites. Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, in particular, have been very popular EG systems.
Currently, the process of installing PV panels for a proposed PV system requires three parties: a salesman, a surveyor, and an installer. The salesman explains to a potential customer all the benefits of a PV system, as well as explains how the PV system may be configured and how it would look. If the potential customer decides to purchase the PV system, then the surveyor visits the installation site and measures the installation site to determine how the PV system will actually be configured. Thereafter, the installer visits the site and installs the PV system. This entire process can be time-consuming and cumbersome, particularly for high volume system vendors/installers. Therefore, it is important for industry leaders to find ways to improve on this process.